Water-wheel.



' No. 704,405. Patente-d Ju'ly 8, |902. S. M. THUBMAN.

WATER WHEEL. I

(Appuwfin med Nov. .2, 1901.) l (mi Muqel.)

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ATTORNEYS U'Niinn Srnfrns 'PATENT OFFICE.

SANFORD M. THURMAN, OF YUMA, ARIZONA TERRITORY.

WATER-WH EEL.

SLPEGIFIOATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 704,405, dated July 8, 1902. Application filed November 2, 1901. Serial No." 80,937.4 (No model.)

Toma/ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, SANFORD M. THURMAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Yuma, in the county of Yuma and Terri? tory of Arizona, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Vater-Wheels, -of which the following is a specilication.

My invention relates to water-wheels of that type in which the water flows against and underneath the same and the power of the wheel in rotating is carried by suitable mechanism to any desired point of utilization.

My invention has for its object to provide a simple wheel of relatively small diameter which may be either partly or wholly submerged and which when located in running water containing driftwood will readily ride over the same without being dam aged thereby or stopping its action.

It consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts, which I will now proceed to describe with reference to the drawings, in whichl Figure l is a perspective view of the front side of the wheel, and Fig. 2 a similar view of the back side.

In the drawings, A represents the Wheelshaft, to which is firmly secured two sets of radial arms B. At each end of the wheel there'are a series of inclined bars C, which are'located between the radial arms B, and at one end are iirmly secured to the outer extremity of one radial arm and at the other end are iirmly connected to the next adjacent radial arm at a point near its middle or at a point a little closer to the center of the wheel than the middle of the radial arm. These inclined bars form braces between the radial arms to stiien the same and also form seats or rests for the paddles which prevent the paddles from ever shutting up to parallelism with the radial arms.

D represen ts the paddles. These are hinged at one edge a to the outer ends of the radial arms B, so as to swing freely, and are of a Width about equal to the length of the bracearms C, against which the paddles rest when receiving the pressure of the water. This waterpressure is always on the external face 0f the paddles and is distributed by the inclined braces all around the wheel without the necessity for any circumferential rim. The

inclined rests, it willibe seen, are located bea tween the paddles and the center of the Wheel.

The direction of the iiow of the water is indicated by the full-line arrows, and when the water strikes the front and lower part of the wheel it indszthe paddles D resting on the inclined braces and turns the wheel in the direction of the dotted arrow. Just as the paddles reach the point where they begin to rise from the water said paddles leave their seats or braces C, turn on their hinges, and rise out of the Water in a suspended position, which causes them to be easily lifted edgewise out of the water without carrying any dead water. Thepaddlesremain inthissuspended position until in turning forwardly over the wheel they gradually lie against the inclined braces and reach the forward side of the wheel.

The whole wheel may be made of wood, in which case it willfioat partly submerged in a running stream when held in suitable arms carrying bearings for the wheel, or the wheel can be 'made either wholly or partly of metal, so that-it will sinkv to a submergence entirely beneath the surface. This wheel will still Voperate effectively'when thus wholly sub- Adownstream will hold the front lower paddles rmly against the `inclined seats while the upper and rear paddles will trail out in a. horizontal plane through the water, as indicated indotted lines in Fig. l. As, however, the areas of pressure on the front side of the wheel are greater below the axle than they are above it, the wheel will work with considerable power even when fully submerged.

To take oft the power from the wheel, a pulley E, xed to the axle A or hub' of 'the wheel, is designed to receive a belt or a sprocket wheel and chain, or any other well-known or convenient mechanism may be employed.

The advantages of this wheel are that it possesses great power for a small diameter, and the paddles descend into the Water in such relation and are so braced by their endrests C as to readily ride over driftwood without being damaged thereby. The paddles also enter the water edgewise in front with IOO but litle resistance and leave the water edgewise in the rear, so that they carry no deadwater in rising.

It will be understood that my Wheel works to great advantage with a drop fall of waterz'. e., when the water will fall vertically on` the front side of the wheel and then passes under it.

By'making the wheel very light it may be xo used as a wind-wheel.

Having thus described my invention, what .I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A water-wheel having at each end a series 15 of radial arms, inclined braces extending from SANFORD M. THURMAN.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM E. MARVIN, JESSE E. CROUCH. 

